Meet the Men's Aventon Racing Team

We wanted to share some insight into our Aventon Racing team, and let you have a sneak peak into how they became part of the Aventon Family.

David Santos

Just like Aventon bikes, David Santos is SoCal born and raised even if his complexion might make you think otherwise*. He’s been racing bikes since 2009, in his first race he dropped everyone and nearly won the race that started beforehand as well. Since then, he’s been dropping everyone on the road, mountain bike and now on his track bike. Dave picked up a fixed gear for the first time in 2015 as part of the Aventon factory team and promptly won his first race.

It’s not just Dave’s taste in bike races that is eclectic: He’s a big fan of his wife’s chocolate chip Nutella cookies, but he’s not a salad dodger, his pot luck go to is a plate of hummus and veggies. That’s the kind of balance that keeps him going around corners at 30 MPH.

Dave’s spirit animal is his ridiculously cute little dog Sprocket and if you catch him at the bar, by him an old fashioned (but not with a cherry in, Dave is a man of principle and he doesn’t stand for any of that fruit in booze nonsense). If you manage to buy him a couple of drinks, he might tell you about the crash that gave him the scars on his ass cheeks or the fact that he was such a messy kid that his parents used to hose him down before they let him come inside. Come to think of it,  we can see why Dave gets on so well with his fluffy white dog!

Cheese of Preference: A French Camembert

Number of bikes currently owned: A round dozen

Which Game of Thrones character would you be and why? John Snow: He’s a badass fighter and can come back from the dead.  He also had a pet wolf.

[*Dave embraces his role as a spokesman for the ginger community and wants young gingers to grow up with healthy role models. ]

Tristan Uhl

Tristan Uhl was born and raised in Smithville, Texas. But he dreams of the day when he can live the dream of travelling around Europe full time in an RV blaring out dirty techno music. It might be a challenge to fit his 10 bikes and his Labrador in there but, then again, nothing is impossible for a man with such a robust ‘stache. He’s been racing bikes since he was 4, but thankfully he has moved on from humiliating toddlers to crushing grown ass men.

Talking of manhood, Tristan regaled us with a story of the most painful moment of his life when a wasp stung him on a training ride. We’ll leave you to join the dots on that one, but it does not sound like fun.

Tristan is a fan of bitter drinks, he likes to bring back a bag of local coffee from races and loves a good IPA.  We imagine he had quite a few of those after his last Red Hook crash, but this year he’s back at it complete with a well sized lump on his collarbone.

If you were an animal, what would you be:  a bird, so I could fly (perhaps he still wants to chase down that wasp)

Which Game of Thrones character would you be and why? Dragon queen for sure.

Cheese of Preference: Easy (we told you he was from Texas)

Olivier

Olivier brings some international flair to the Aventon team. He doesn’t have any pets, but he shares his house in Dijon with Eleonore and the collection of cycling caps he likes to bring home from races. If you want to trade him for a jar, bring a 6 pack of Corona, that is his beer of choice after a hard race. Don’t let him have too many though, he admits to being “an awful singer”

Is a strong rider with a love for strong cheese, indeed he says that if we hosted a potluck he would bring along a hunk of his local speciality, Epoisses. Much like his fromage of choice, Olivier hits hard from the outset and has been doing so since he won his first bike race at 2 years old.

Which Game of Thrones character would you be and why?  “what is this? I have never seen this series” (maybe the series got guillotined along with the French Monarchy?)

Number of bikes owned: 7, one for every day of the week.  

Cheese of Preference: Epoisses, duh

Chris Tolley

Chris Tolley was born in Beverly Hills,  but moved to Columbus, Ohio for high school and went to college at Northeastern University in Boston. He’s currently living in Austin, which is also where he would pick if he could live anywhere on earth.

Chris started racing at Red Hook Crit in 2014! We would love to say it was a baptism of fire but realistically it was a baptism of rain and cold!  “I still remember almost backing out because I had no idea what I was doing. I had only ridden a few alley cats and generally just liked to smash on my pedals alone, never around 85 other racers.” Despite this he finished an impressive 32nd. He has been taking risks in the rain ever since then. After the last Red Hook Crit in Barcelona he decided to rent a road bike and ride up to Montserrat. On the way down in the mist he came across 2 tour busses stuck in a hairpin and somehow managed to thread the gap between them at 40 MPH. “It was sick, and I always laugh because shit could've gone terribly. Life is tight” . Despite his ability to avoid crashing into them, Chris enjoys collecting rocks. He says he brings home some new rocks (along with coffee and sore IT bands) from every travel race.

Off the bike, Chris has more delicate tastes. He loves to bake “It's like a science but with food” and says he would bring Momufuku compost cookies from scratch if you invited him to a party (hint hint, you should invite him to your party). If you run into him at a bar, he wants a drink that tastes He is “a big fan of floral drinks. I want to have a drink that reminds me of the gardens at the Palace of Versailles.” Alternatively, take “a really good whiskey.” Bear in mind that whatever you buy him you’ll never displace his love for animals, he says he “holds dogs in higher regard than most people I met. They’re honestly too good for this world”.

Chris grew up riding BMX. He says his whole left shim looks like one big scar from years of smashing pedals into it. His favorite photo of himself reflects his heritage. “This was taken around 2010-2011 by my friend Levi Marshall in Columbus, Ohio. I don't think anyone had ever barspun through the 0 before. One night on OSU campus we had all the camera gear set up and I went for it. I failed miserably the first time but got it second try. I wasn't just stoked on the trick, I was stoked that I had a great group of friends to ride with. It's sort of nostalgic because I miss that crew of riders. We're all scattered across the country now, and some of them stopped riding.”

Which Game of Thrones character would you be and why?

That show! I Can't get into it. If I'm a TV show character its Rustin Cohle from True Detective. 

Cheese of preference: Goat cheese, or the sharpest, saltiest cheddar in the fridge. 

Isaac Howe

Isaac Howe considers himself as he has lived lived in Burlington Vermont for the last decade. However,  he’s recently been given cause to retire all snow pants and plaid shirts because he’s living in San Diego CA. He says he’ll go back, we say the beach and the sunshine will win him over.

Isaac began bike racing at 10 years old, he came 3rd and is still upset about it. So upset was he at the time that he immediately began training and racing and has not stopped since. Isaac had a great pro career with teams such as Smart Stop and Kenda/ 5 Hour Energy. Isaac attributes his success to hard work, dedication and homemade Grilled Pizza. “If you think "pizza legs" leads to anything but raised arms over a finish line then you’ve just not had good pizza.”

Isaac has matured in some ways since those junior racing days though. He recalls racing in Ireland and living in a second story apartment. “Our coach made us do 20 minutes of yoga every morning and we thought it was hilarious to wear only socks over our privates and leave the windows and blinds completely open to give an entertaining show to the tourists driving by on the top levels of double decker buses”. He maintains that “ I wouldn’t do it again but the memory of being a stupid kid thinking that was the funniest thing on earth always makes me laugh”. Just to be safe, steer clear of the second floor of the Aventon riders’ hostel if you find yourself at Red Hook races this year.

Isaac might leave behind some scared tourists, but he likes to come home with a coffee mug from every travel race to remind himself of all the cool places he has been as he starts every day. Later in the day, Isaac enjoys the occasional dry extra dirty Hendricks martini. Unless he is feeling healthy, in which case he claims to “really enjoy beet juice with ginger and blended spinach, or the chicken broth that comes with ramen noodles.” You can find him enjoying his martini with his cat Stevie, who is named after a weed eating mountain lion form a show called Trailer Park Boys. Isaac wants you to know that you should watch this show past the first few episodes, he feels very strongly about this.

Isaac had a pretty great pro road career but it wasn’t all good times. He recalls crashing so hard in a sprint in 2015 that his “elbow bone was visible and my hip looked almost as bad.”  He rode the “last 45 miles solo with two broken shifters… I was very angry at myself that day and looking at those scars is a constant reminder to not do that ever again!” . Along with the scars from this crash, Isaac likes to keep a photo of himself riding a stationary bike after breaking his collarbone handy. He says  “that was the most emotional and physically painful thing I’ve ever experienced, this photos serves as a reminder that I can withstand anything as long as I keep my head up and my mindset focused on the road ahead.”

Number of bikes owned:

4, it was 7 but some lucky storage unit thief struck gold when he discovered my carbon stash shortly after moving. I’m keeping busy with one road, track, cross, and mountain bike.

Which Game of Thrones character would you be and why?

I wouldn’t wish that life for anyone, not even the UHC crit team (JK I like those guys but seriously they won too much). If there is any fact that can be taken from that show other than that people from this fantasy renaissance era are all extremely attractive, it’s that death lurks around every corner and winter is always coming. No Bueno.

Cheese of Preference:

Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar. Real cheddar cheese is white and must be well aged. If the cheese is orange then is not worth eating and it definitely did not come from Vermont.. (We’d like insert here that Chedda Cheese comes from England, not New England, but i guess Vermont is closer than San Diego so we will let it pass)

Joaquin Najar

Joaquin Najar was born and raised in Austin, Texas. He still lives in the lone star state’s weirdest city where he rides his Aventon Diamond every day as part of his job as a bike messenger. In fact, Joaquin rides so much that he once wore a hole clean through a pair of shorts, after feeling an unusual breeze, he had to cut that workday short! He began his career by getting dropped at the hilly Lago Vista road race but he is hoping to come back and take the win one day after honing his form in fixed gear crits. As you can see in the photo, his daughter Sophie is on board with helping him win, she is stopping him eating ice cream to keep him at climbing weight!

If you catch Joaquin after a race, be sure to ask him about which bag of coffee he is bringing home, he says he always picks up some beans at a race. Between looking after his daughter and riding his bike Joaquin is a busy guys and needs all the caffeine he can get! When Joaquin does find himself free for the night, he drinks Tequila  as befits his Mexican heritage. Joaquin loves spending time back in Mexico and says he can’t think of anything better to eat than Mom’s tamales!  He loves to represent Mexico out training in his Eliel Mexican flag kit.

Cheese of Preference: whatever kind of cheese they put on my pizza

If you were a Game of Thrones Character, which would you be? The Mountain!

Song you are most likely to be found singing when you think nobody can hear?  Drake - child's play